Never Tell
by Exorcism Expert
Summary: Raito has pursued his hobby of murdering yakuza leaders throughout Japan. However, one thing he has learned is that sometimes, you can just never tell. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Raito has pursued his hobby of murdering yakuza leaders throughout Japan. However, one thing he has learned is that sometimes, you can just never tell. AU

**Disclaimer: **Exorcism Expert owns nothing.

**NEVER TELL**

CHAPTER 1: HOBBIES

The room was swelteringly hot, the stickiness of their skin making the sheets stick with the uncomfortable wetness. Yagami Raito panted at that rather than frowning in disgust. After all, he was in a rather compromising position that if his partner had noticed he wasn't enjoying himself, he would try and figure out why not. Raito decided that he would rather not have to explain that he actually wasn't as gay as his partner seemed to think he was and that a dick shoved up his ass was nowhere near as inviting as the other had intended to make it seem.

But young Yagami played his part well. He panted and moaned as he saw fit, turning a glassy gaze to the one who was pushing and pulling in and out of his body. The other groaned roughly, over and over again, in such an annoyingly disgusting way that Raito had actually considered pushing the guy off and just leaving. That course of action seemed so much more interesting. He would have liked to have seen a mafia leader try and chase after him, naked and still hard. However, Raito knew the consequences if he made any moves at escape and grudgingly accepted that it was for the best that he just stayed and let the guy above him finish whatever the hell it was he was doing in there. Raito couldn't exactly tell. This particular partner seemed to jerk around a bit more in a fish-like manner that vaguely reminded Raito of a gold fish in a too small fish bowl.

Everyone has a beginning to their story. This seemed to be particularly true with Raito, seeing as he hadn't always been taking it up the behind in a tacky and overly done home, disguised as the sexual and "emotional" partner of one Yamaguchi Harukichi, founder of the Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza. He also hadn't always been so outwardly gay and _flowery_ around so many people before, especially not this particularly large group of reckless criminals. But Raito wasn't planning on staying around for long. Rather, he was intent on just walking out of here, unharmed and fully clothed with no guillotine hanging over his head, unlike most people who walked out of here, if any did.

From the grunts above him, Raito estimated that he had about ten minutes before he was supposed to force himself to scream and come to completion. A rather tedious task, especially when all he was feeling was an annoying pressure on his tail bone and spine, but he could handle it. After all, he was Yagami Raito and he never lost any challenge. This was what he was good at. Lying was his key trait, the single one that not even his family could have seen when he was around.

Thinking of his family, Raito allowed himself to reminisce, his recollections bland and none too happy.

--

"Raito, come down for dinner!" Sayu yelled up the stairwell, her padding footsteps loud even on the carpeted floor. Raito sighed as he stood and stretched, elegantly quiet as he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mother and sister awaited, his father's compassionate yet stern face nowhere in sight. Another sigh.

"Where's Father?" he asked out of habit, sitting in his designated seat as per usual. His mother looked up at him, smiling lightly but never hiding the shadow of sadness that resided in her flat brown eyes.

"He had to stay late at work today. He said he'd be back around nine though. Isn't that wonderful?" Raito put on an excited smile, nodding to her in a bobbing fashion. So, two hours earlier, huh? What a difference it made in his mother's book. Raito hid his annoyance though. This was his family and to bring up subjects such as the downfall of the precious clan that was the Yagamis was like treachery in his mother's eyes. She would wish to send him to his room. She wouldn't do it, but she'd want to.

Raito ate his dinner, not quite paying much attention to what it was that he was eating despite the spiciness that lingered on his tongue when he swallowed, and allowed his thoughts to linger on Sayu's expression. She was bubbly and light-hearted about most things. School was difficult for her but she always joked about it whenever Raito was around. But now, Raito could see the result of weeks of their patriarch's neglect. Her eyes were more downcast than was normal, her shoulders sagging whenever she looked up from her seat and stared across from her to the empty chair, her eyes hopeful at first, as if she expected for their father to magically appear before her eyes to ask her about her day.

_It's for the good of the world_, Raito liked to think. And yet, he could hardly see the effectiveness his father would have alone in an office at eight in the evening when no one was around to help him. Yagami Soichiro always worked best in a pack where he could order around the followers because he knew what leadership was like and he knew how to make his point known and his point was nearly always right.

Raito had begun to doubt his father's intentions months ago—his mind seemed much more clear now that he was older—and since had been doing the honors of watching his father come home through his bedroom window, never confronting him but always there, just waiting for his father to make a wrong move that would give him away. Because this particular observation wasn't on the top of his list of things to do (after all, he was still a student and still had time-consuming homework and essays to do that, despite his intelligence, couldn't be rushed), Raito had done the best he could with the time he had but he never took the time to peek through his family's laundry in search of some sort of mark or sign that his father was doing something promiscuous behind his family's back. Raito could only assume that he received his brilliant ability to seduce a woman from someone. Even if Raito was slightly disgusted by that fact, he could deal with it.

So when Soichiro came home late despite the fact that he had called to say he was coming early, Raito watched as he angrily hit the hood of his car with his fist. Raito frowned. His father never got angry enough to hit anything. Something must have happened. Confused and a bit annoyed at that fact, he walked downstairs to meet his father. As he walked down, Sayu peeped her head out of her bedroom door and whispered, "Is Dad home?" Raito nodded and Sayu squealed happily, jumping from her room and running down the stairs before Raito could even see that wasn't going to just trapeze off the staircase.

"Dad, you're home—" and Sayu didn't say anymore. Confused yet again, Raito walked down faster, curious as to what was going on. What he saw might have shocked him had he not been warned about his father's anger already.

His mother had her hand on her cheek, tears spilling out of her eyes, and his father was staring in shock at her face, his palm outwards yet limp, as if he'd just slapped her across the face. When he finally noticed the tears in his wife's eyes, he lifted his hand up, maybe to grab her face or comfort her, and whispered in a pained voice, "Sachiko…"

Raito's mother jerked away from the hand in an involuntary manner and Soichiro's hand fell to his side, palm still outward. Sayu was still staring in shock but Raito could see the beginning of the waterworks he always saw whenever his sister got emotional. As much as he cared for his mother—she _was _his mother, after all—he was much more worried for his sister's mental health and decidedly took action by grabbing his sister's hand and pulling her to the door.

"Come on, Sayu. Let's go get something for dessert and then you can go to Mai-kun's house, okay?" She didn't respond at first but when she did, it was a bobby nod that told Raito she was still the least bit sane.

"It's too late," their father muttered behind them. "You shouldn't go out this late." Raito glared at his father over his shoulder. "We're going out. Go wait in the car, Sayu." Sayu looked from his father's face to Raito's and decided it was better to wait outside where the impending storm wouldn't reach her.

"Raito…," Soichiro started. "It's much too late right now. Just take your sister to bed—"

"No. She's already shocked enough. What's next? Will you start screaming at Mom too? Sayu can't be around here if this is going to be happening. I'm taking her to Mai-kun's house until things calm down. I don't want to be here either." Without another word to his shocked father's face, he calmly walked to his mother, placed his arms around her shoulders briefly in his strangely emotional hug, and walked out the front door. Upon entering his car he saw that Sayu had fallen asleep in the short time he had been inside. Smiling, he shook her awake lightly.

Instantly, she was awake, jerking her head back and forth and searching around until she saw Raito sitting there. Relaxing, she grinned something that resembled a watery smile that was much too depressing for Raito to look at for long.

"We'll head over to that new ice cream shop they opened up," Raito said quietly, a hint of false joy in his voice. "I bet you can't eat three scoops by yourself," he added. As he expected, Sayu's eyes narrowed and a grin lit her face.

"I accept your challenge, big brother."

--

Raito cried out as his "lover" reached completion, a hot stickiness all over him as he too came. Thank goodness he'd been stroking himself as well otherwise being convincing would have been difficult. And thank Kami the other man had been wearing a condom. He wouldn't have been able to handle it if that hadn't been the case.

"Fuck, that was good," Yamaguchi muttered, Raito mumbling his agreement (his orgasm could have been worse as far as orgasms go) as he burrowed into the other's arms. It was too hot and the man next to him was slick with disgusting sweat. It wasn't that the Yamaguchi wasn't attractive; he was in the commercial sense of the word. However, Raito just wasn't all too fond of him. In fact, he hated the man with growing intensity every time they entered the bedroom.

_He could at least try to make things interesting, _Raito thought to himself. _Vanilla sex, that's what this is. If he's going to be boring in sex, he could at least improve his techniques so that I at least __**enjoy **__it. _

"What're you thinking about?" Yamaguchi questioned. Raito sighed to himself.

"Just how amazing you are, Haru," Raito replied with a pseudo-admiring sigh, nuzzling his nose into the man's collarbone. He pressed small kisses along Harukichi's neck as the other man sighed in content. He couldn't appreciate the feel of short buzz cut the other man had. It was just too uncomfortable and the hair just wasn't soft at all. He could appreciate hair, he had realized some time ago. It may have been a fetish of his or something, but he liked it when it was soft and long, perhaps because that was the texture of his own hair. Or perhaps it was just narcissism.

Raito frowned as his hair fell in his face. It wasn't right anymore. The color was now a jet black, a horrifying color that Raito didn't particularly care for because it was average. His own chestnut-colored hair had been wonderful and fitting. Now, he just felt normal. It was disgusting. Plus, the blue contacts he wore hindered his vision. He constantly felt like blinking just to get rid of the obstruction. Thank goodness both the hair color and the contacts were only temporary. Raito had been dying his hair every week just to maintain the color. The contacts were a bit easier to deal with but falling asleep with them in always came as a bother.

"Mm, Takashi," Yamaguchi murmured as Raito smirked into the man's shoulder, placing a light kiss there.

"I love you, Haru," Raito murmured back. The man in question moaned and pulled Raito into his chest, kissing Raito with as much force as he could. Raito groaned in response, repulsed by this. First the taste of a fake love confession and now a Yakuza leader's mouth; it was brilliantly disgusting.

However, this method was found to be encouraging. Men of power always fell for this kind of thing, thinking that the faster the one they bedded admitted their love, the more power they had over them. Powerful men wanted more power; it was just a fact. This was why Raito continued doing this. He was a powerful man, too. He just held onto it silently, his strengths hidden beneath the thick surface protection he had created for himself. No one would know it was there.

--

The hard thing about getting Yamaguchi to use a hypodermic needle was that he was always too careful when using drugs. That meant that Raito would have to get the man wasted first if he wanted to get him high too. So, with the help of some careful planning and a couple of bottles liquor, Yamaguchi was perfectly inarticulate and practically begging for more. Raito, having filled his own glass with only watered down apple juice, was sober enough to place a heroin filled needle into Yamaguchi's thick vein. The needle was thicker than necessary but Yamaguchi didn't even wince as it pierced his skin. Then, as the drugs were injected into his bloodstream, Raito pulled another needle from his pocket, this one thinner than before. He stretched the skin at the creased skin of the man's arm and slid in the new needle as the drug-lined needle slid out of the folds of skin.

Yamaguchi was moaning as the drugs hit him, grinding his hips upwards at Raito's straddling hips. Raito ignored it and leaned down to the other man's ear, his lips grazing the lobe.

"This is for all you've done, Haru," Raito murmured. His thumb pushed at the syringe and air was pushed forcefully into Yamaguchi's bloodstream. Clean, simple, hard to trace.

He stood as Yamaguchi clutched at his heart, his eyes rolling back as an air-induced heart attack slaughtered him from the inside. Quickly, Raito filled the empty syringe with more heroin and dropped it to the floor, the drug dripping slightly from the needle's head. The drug had been tainted anyway and everyone knew where they it was gotten from. The dealer would be dead by the next morning.

Raito screamed and cried until Yakuza members came rushing in to see him clutching the dead body of his lover, tears falling down his face.

They would not doubt him and his loving gestures as he clutched the body of their leader. They would have the heroin checked and then they'd hunt down the man who had wronged them. Raito would leave, stumbling out of the building they had made their home and be found dead the next morning by police, a black-haired, blue-eyed man by the name of Hinoshima Takashi who had shot himself in the head, a grand thief now off the streets of Kanto after committing suicide for reasons unknown other than having had recent connections with Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza group. A note would be found in his pocket by police, directions to the hidden headquarters of their hide out scrawled messily on a sheet of note paper that said, "Come alone". There would be a raid and many yakuza members would be captured and taken in.

Raito smiled to himself as he watched the leads he had left behind for his father to find were followed step by incompetent step, each one leading to the next level of Raito's careful planning. His father led the team, a look of grieving relief on his face that his son hadn't been the one found dead. On one hand, Raito wasn't dead there in Kanto. On the other, Raito, his first and only son, was nowhere to be found. He was sad and lost as to what to do.

Raito wasn't sad about this at all. Soichiro deserved this much, in his opinion. Raito had very well done everything he could have possibly done to please his father in the beginning. He had become the man of the house when his father wasn't home, had done everything he needed to do to keep his family afloat amidst the anguish- and anger- filled sea that surrounded them when Soichiro didn't come home some nights. Raito deserved this time to figure himself out while still helping his father, even if he didn't realize it.

"You can't keep doing this."

Raito opened his eyes, turning his gaze to his right where a puff of smoke was released and the sounds of swords clashing and buttons clicking met his ears.

"I'm pretty sure I can. Sleep is a necessary cycle that needs to take place if I plan to live longer than I have." There was a sigh and more smoke puffed from person sitting on the couch.

_He really needs to stop smoking in here, _Raito thought. _The landlord is going to get another complaint soon and I can't keep paying her off for ignoring it._

"You know what I'm fucking talking about, Light." He sighed, covering his eyes with his forearm and the curtains were opened, fabric swooshing heavily and allowing sunlight into his living room.

"I'll stop when I'm done. It's almost over, you know," he replied easily.

"You said that last time, too. Now you're making me sound like a freakin' housewife that's trying to get her husband to get home on time." Raito almost winced at that. Had he not already detached himself from his family as much as he could, he probably would have cared more.

"It's not my fault you love me so much, Matt," Raito smirked, facing the redhead that was now splaying himself across his black leather sofa, a gift from one of his lovers. It suited him well, a fact that he didn't mind admitting. Money meant very little when you were dead, anyhow.

Matt snorted but didn't correct him.

"So you're going to keep it up with this crap, and then what? Dally on home to your family and say you're sorry for leaving? Tell your dad you're proud of him for solving all those cases "alone"?" Matt didn't turn around. The sword of his blonde-haired warrior clashed violently against the metal plating of the monster he fought. It didn't seem to be making much of a difference.

"I actually don't plan on going home. I think I'll move somewhere. I have plane tickets to New York, Fiji, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, and possibly Cancun. You can come too, if you want. It won't take long for me to hack into the system to change the names on the tickets…"

"You still have those tickets?" Matt questioned, though Raito thought it sounded more like a confused statement. "As keepsakes?"

"Not really. More like insurance in case I needed to get out of here. Can't have my own father catching me in the act, now can I?" Matt shook his head and paused his game, the clattering of metal against metal turning to the sound of battle music.

"Those plane tickets can't last forever," Matt pointed out, his orange goggles hiding the way his eyebrows lifted as he spoke. "So that must mean you're going to be leaving soon. Which means this is almost over and the havoc you have started to wreak upon the Japanese underground crime scene is almost over." He seemed to ponder that for a moment.

"I still don't know why you even bother. This makes about as much of a difference as the police do. There's always someone bigger and badder waiting out there, ready to take the spot of the next fallen mafia leader. You're just helping them along."

"That may be true," Raito said, "but my father won't be NPA chief forever. He's going to step down someday soon. As long as I keep him from over doing it and neglecting the family, everything's fine."

Raito was a natural liar and Matt could see through that. He knew what Light was getting at. Boredom was something that didn't really bother Matt nearly as much as it bothered Light. Plus, Matt didn't mind letting things like crime and punishment go. That's why he got along with Light so well. Murder like this was justified as long as there was a reason behind it. Light's fake reason for it was good enough.

Light was one of those crazy seekers-of-justice that Matt always heard about; heck, he played their characters in his games because they were the best fighters. The only thing was that Light was obsessed in that compulsive way that made him unbearable to be around when he was plotting things like the time of death and the manner. He preferred hand-on methods over accidents but the latter was easier and Light hated that. He would go on ranting about crap that didn't really matter because either way, the guy he was watching was going to die. Damn bastard just didn't know when to quit.

"Well, when you go off like a Roman candle, don't go crying to me to throw a bucket of water on you to stop the fuse. We may be friends, but I'd save my own ass before trying to save yours."

"I know Matt," Raito agreed. "I'd do the same."

"Surprisingly, that doesn't even bother me."

--

"Watari, please bring in the new case file."

"Of course, Ryuzaki."

The folder was all thinner than it should have been, meaning that the case itself had no leads by the people who had already begun the investigation. L sighed as he looked at the NPA's feeble reports and then looked at the lack of evidence. He knew not to expect them to have everything he needed to solve the case but really, shouldn't there have been _more_?

Yagami Soichiro, chief of the NPA, had a good background, not once sullied by some sort of crime other than a couple tickets. However, he did have a history of working long hours on various cases involving the yakuza as a whole. This wasn't rare in any case, but as L thought about it, there was always the chance that this man was one of the suspects. Law enforcement officers normally did have a sense of justice, the one thing that normally called them to this line of duty in the first place. Still, for someone like him who had a family and a runaway son that hadn't been seen in months, L could see where this would be the stressor that caused the man to crack and maybe use his frustrations and power to create a vital force that would push him to go killing yakuza members and tracking down hide outs. Perhaps he was getting revenge? Did he believe his son had been taken by the yakuza?

In L's mind, he knew that this case seemed very simple. A father who had begun to seek revenge for his son's disappearance by targeting the yakuza, the people who were responsible for a large percentage of Japan's crime rate, was the most-likely suspect. In essence, it wasn't a difficult case at all. Definitely not challenging enough to ignite L's never-ending interests without boring him.

"Ryuzaki, do you plan on taking this case? If so, the NPA commander would like to know so he can gather you a team of investigators. He's eager to have this over and done with. The people of Japan are beginning to suspect that something isn't quite right."

"I'll take the case."

**A/N: **I will update this story whether people review or not but I have found myself to be a rather generous writer when there is an incentive behind the effort. Either way, I appreciate all opinions and will look forward to what readers have to say.

-Ex


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I do apologize for the long wait which took place between the first posting and this one. My occupation normally doesn't hinder me but it seems this last case took much more time than expected.

Disclaimer: X owns nothing.

**NEVER TELL**

CHAPTER 2: MISSIONS

Raito entered a vast home of white furnishings and glass coffee tables, snidely wondering how everything maintained a glowing glean of cleanliness if there ere bloody hand prints everywhere. With a regal stride, he approached the farthest seat from the entrance, a white loveseat in view of the western-style parlor, and took a seat. The home was one of the more extravagant homes he'd visited before, the girth of it looking as if it had been refurnished as of recent, the new silk cushions and Siberian fur throw Raito's main clues signifying the details.

Raito's skin felt luscious against the silk and fur. Prior to arriving, Raito had prepped himself for his meeting. After buffing and moisturizing, his skin glowed once again and now as his refreshed flesh was lavished with the riches of his future suitor, he couldn't help but internally sigh. He wouldn't be able to enjoy the commodities very much after this point. From then on out, it would be all business mixed with his lover's pleasure.

Crossing his legs and leaning back comfortably, Raito unbuttoned the first four buttons of his shirt, purposefully grazing his fingers against the bare skin beneath his silk shirt. It was likely that there were cameras here to monitor the house while its owner was away. Raito put on a bit of a show, licking his lips seductively while passively staring just past an air vent, one that, if Raito were to remove the metal vent, hid a camera as it recorded him.

Though he could have done it himself, Matt had offered to find the blueprints of the establishment; his offering rally just consequence for the bills Raito paid for him. Besides, while Raito was good at hacking and tracking, Matt was a technology-knowledgeable prodigy that surpassed Raito's own skills just enough to make Raito admire him. Barely.

"What the fuck?" someone whispered from outside. Raito was prepared though, smiling his casual smile as footsteps neared from the doorway to the parlor. Raito first saw the barrel of a gun before a hand was revealed, then an arm attached to a torso. The man Raito was gazing at with mischievous eyes was young, nineteen to be exact, and had smooth looking skin and dark hair, his hands practically shaking as he held the gun out. He looked around nervously, his sight grazing Raito has he rapidly looked around only to shoot back at the body on his loveseat.

"Who the fuck are you?!" he yelled, aiming his gun at Raito quickly, his hand still shaking. Raito smiled as kindly as he could, internally smirking at the young boy. Raito wasn't any older than him but he knew much more, was much smarter than this young man, Gunma Taro.

Raito languidly stretched with the knowledge that a gun was pointed directly at the throw pillow next to him at the back of his mind.

"Aichi Kato, at your service," Raito stood, bowing low before rising again to see the gun lowered just a few degrees. Perfect.

"W-What are you doing here?" Taro stuttered, his brown eyes wide and his jaw hanging. "How…how did you even get in?!"

"I've come to offer my assistance," Raito continued without a hint at the boy's last question. It wouldn't do to tell him he'd broken in so quickly. Maybe later, when he trusted him a bit more.

"Anything you need, I offer my life up to you." Raito allowed his eyes to graze over the boy's body, slowly taking in his mediocre form before lustfully gazing into the brown eyes again, "_Anything_ you need." Taro gulped and his hand fell even more.

With Taro, Raito had plotted out the entire thing with a different aim. Of course Taro wouldn't have to die quite yet, not when he was so innocent. Had Raito been dealing with a murderer or rapist from the beginning, he would have taken to an immediate annihilation of the boy. However, Taro was as innocent as someone running a large group of the yakuza could be.

The truth was, Taro's role had been inherited from his father whom had been murdered by police just weeks ago. Now, Raito had to guide him through a few steps, observe and see if the boy would make the right choice and leave this place or if he would be as his father was, cruel and vile. With someone as young as Taro, it could go either way, which meant Raito would need to be exceptionally close to gather all the information he needed. Seduction was as good a method as any when it came to siphoning information from someone.

Raito's weeks of observation previous to his breaking and entering of the Gunma household had revealed that, 1) Gunma Taro was unsure of his position as his father's heir, 2) he needed guidance desperately if he didn't wish to fall into the wrong path and end up being killed by the men who had once so loyally obeyed his father, and 3) he had no known sexual preference. Never before had he dated and as far as Raito knew, he was a virgin. Lovely; it was a new experience that Raito desperately wished to have, taking a virgin for the first time. His own virginity, the only thing that Raito had taken with him that was pure as he walked willingly into the cave of crimes and drugs, had been taken roughly and lovelessly. Raito wasn't cruel, though, and he would show mercy on Taro. He would top though, a rare treat that he was seldom rewarded.

"I-y-you shouldn't be here. You need to leave," Taro stuttered uselessly. Raito hid a smirk and walked forward gracefully, a languid smile on his face.

"Oh Taro-kun," he sighed, a touch of sadness in his tone. "If only you could just begin to understand the draw I have to you. My wish to ease your suffering," he stepped close enough that he could hear Taro's every loud breath like a heartbeat. It stuttered. "To ease your wariness so you may succeed in all you wish to accomplish, as was the wish of your mother and father." Taro's eyes widened infinitesimally as he realized what Raito was saying.

"My parents?" Raito nodded and leaned forward and ducked his head slightly until his lips were inches away from Taro's. He'd wooed men before, and Taro was taking to his advances with naivety, leaning forward unconsciously.

"I will do _anything _for you, Taro." He lifted his hand and cupped Taro's cheek, rubbing his thumb along the skin. "_Anything." _

Taro leaned into the touch and Raito knew his mission was as good as done.

--

Yagami Soichiro was used to being called into the NPA Head Director's office. As chief, it was his duty to stick up for all the men who had never applied themselves to doing their jobs, those who uselessly came to work only to leave eight hours later with no difference having been made other than the reigning anger of someone who received a ticket for some sort of traffic violation. Yes, he represented the bored, useless, middle-aged men who wanted a thrill in their boring, miserable lives.

He was feeling rather pessimistic today, as it was.

As he walked forward and knocked on his boss's door, he knew that whatever it was he was about to talk about, it didn't involve the men on the force…not directly, anyway. No, this had to do with him and something he'd done. Maybe he was being fired for shouting at the men for not doing their jobs, or maybe he was being written a demerit for smacking Matsuda over the head too hard with his ticket book, not quite a major crime but morally wrong nonetheless.

"Koreyoshi-san," Soichiro greeted as he entered the room. From the severe look on the man's face, he knew this was more serious than the fake concussion Matsuda was pulling back in the main office.

"Sit down, Yagami-san. There is much to discuss and very little time to do it." He nodded and sat cautiously, a "habit of humanity" Raito had said once, he remembered. Shaking darkness from his thoughts, he returned to the present.

"It has come to my attention, Yagami-san, that the NPA has taken in more Yakuza members in the past few months than they have in the past ten years." Soichiro nodded, unsure. This was a good thing and a bad thing, according to the other members of the NPA. It meant that the Yakuza was getting clumsy, which was good, but the clumsiness was probably due to inexperience and youth, which was bad. If young children could do the tasks that the Yakuza would require of them, no matter how badly they were done, it meant that it gave people less time to save their children before they became victim of the tragedy that followed people as they entered a life of crime.

"And you've been head of the Yakuza investigations," Koreyoshi continued, "which, to me, signifies that you are doing your job. However, it has come to the attention of other crime units throughout Japan that perhaps there is something more to this case than we are letting on. They believe that you are doing some dirty dealing underneath the table to get these leads, which has led them to seek answers where answers aren't to be found."

Yagami nodded, immediately understanding. It was unfair of them to so quickly assume that he'd done anything other than his job of taking leads and using them to stop the criminals in Kanto. If he'd been doing anything more than that, how would he have been able to go home every night at six for the past couple of months? Sure, he did extra work at home, but at least he was home! He'd learned his lesson the moment that Raito, his only son and his first supply of pride and joy (Sayu was his second), had disappeared from his family's life. He had been there now, and he knew that he couldn't continue living as he had.

"Would it be beneficial for me to remove myself from the Yakuza cases? If others feel that I'm not acting accordingly…"

Koreyoshi shook his head and folded his hands atop his desk, sighing. "Yagami-san, you are the Chief of the Force, and one of my best men. I know that you're going through a hard time right now, and I sympathize. I'll deal with the accusations and if they continue, I will require some evidence from the accusers." Soichiro nodded, hardly relieved. One less problem meant the weight of another was even more strongly pressed into his shoulders and neck. As he left the room, he looked over his shoulder at Koreyoshi.

"Has the other team come up with any leads to finding him?"

"I'm sorry, Yagami-san. There's been nothing." He nodded in response and left the room. That night, he left the office early and sat with Sachiko, the only woman he could ever love, holding her closely as she listened to him talk about his day.

--

Matt was a pretty simple guy with simple wants and needs. He required food (breakfast cereals, bread, luncheon meat, and ramen noodles because he knew Raito hated them), he required cigs, he required a place to sleep (which Raito kindly provided) and he required his video games, they being the only things he brought with him from his old life. See, simple things, things easily taken advantage of.

That being said, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be too much to ask that his roommate be home a bit more often. Not only did Raito normally keep the place clean but he also answered the door, dealt with the landlady, and flirted with the woman next door so she would give them freshly baked goods. Raito was the charming one, the one people wanted to see when they knocked on a door. Matt was…not Raito. He looked like a crazy gamer guy who smoked too much and wore goggles to hide the fact that he was probably high (though he swore that he never did drugs).

Matt refused to believe that he wanted Raito here because he missed him. Feelings were beyond Raito, so Matt was pretty sure he could be beyond them too. Besides, Raito was a real bitch sometimes and the last thing Matt wanted was to be nagged again about smoking in the room without at least opening the window. Matt didn't feel comfortable with the window open—years of mental conditioning that the outside world was unsafe hadn't stopped him from leaving his home but it did hinder him from being able to open a window.

Shots were fired and StripedShirtAndGogglesGuy was murdered on the screen only to be reborn. Matt sighed, wondering why the hell he even bothered worrying so much. It's not like he had really died. There would be more lives as long as Raito kept on paying the bills and making sure the electricity stayed on. Maybe that's why he was so worried; if Raito died, where could he possibly go? Back to England? No way. The only person he really wanted to be around would be gone, so what would be the point in going to an empty home?

The soldier on the screen was shot again and Matt's brow raised from beneath the goggles. Since when had he gotten so bad at protecting himself? He wondered if Raito was protecting himself alright…not that he cared or anything. Seriously though, had Raito finally bitten off more than he could chew? Raito had told him he wouldn't call for approximately two weeks but Matt would know after one week that everything was going well. How the fuck Raito planned on contacting him without the phone or email was beyond him but he figured, what the hell, Raito could do whatever the fuck he wanted. It was no skin off his nose if Raito was raped or murdered or drugged up or whatever the hell risks came with his new job.

Another shot came his way, a sniper shot. "What the fuck?" he said aloud, watching as the scene of his character's death played out. He'd been between some destroyed cars when suddenly he'd been shot out of nowhere, totally unsuspecting. There was no one to be seen with that kind of sniping equipment. Curious, he climbed the virtual stairs and entered the building closest to him, armed and ready to kill the shit that kept on murdering him behind his back.

However, before he could doing anything drastic like running around shooting out the entire top floor, a click resounded in the game, making Matt freeze. His character turned and found another soldier with a handgun. From the stance, he could see the cockiness of the puppeteer and the way he held the gun…obviously a sniper. Above the character's head, the name read 'Kira'. On that character, Matt imagined brown eyes and hair with a smirk planted on that face that said, "I'm a freakin' God". He cursed.

"Mother fuckin' bitch."


End file.
